Just thought this was a cool photo of Jack Wild. Must have been taken when they were just starting up H.R. Pufnstuf.
Recently I was over at Booksteve’s Library and saw he had this posting about Cissy Colpits who sometimes goes by the name of Cisse Cameron. This got me to thinking about the movie Billy Jack as his posting mentioned that she was a co-star in that film. I saw the movie when it first came out and didn’t remember anyone by either of her names in the film. I did research on the internet to see what part she played. It wasn’t hard to find the cast list on Imdb.com. She was listed in the cast as playing “Miss False Eyelashes.”
The things you find when you are looking through boxes in your basement. I came across this earlier this week. I don't remember the story so I re-read it. It is pretty good. Now this book was put out in 1996. Since it is 10 years old I figure that no spoiler warning is needed. However, if you have not read it and want to then stop reading now. Get off the internet. Turn off your computer and go to your nearest comic book shop to see if they have it in their back issue bin.
Just heard that yesterday was Mr. Evanier's birthday. So here is a belated Happy Birthday to you Mark. Hope you had a happy one.
When I was looking through an old issue of Captain America from 1968 I came across this advertisment. I was only 7 at the time so the only thing that mattered to me was if Cap beat the bad guys. I use to collect autographs and would like to have one by Stan Lee. However, back then he was a relative unknown outside the comic book world. Comics, while being written for adults by that time, were still being looked on as for kids. So if those kids were like me and only cared who won the fight I wonder who it was that was nagging Marvel for an autographed photo of Mr. Lee?
By the time the 1970's rolled around comic books had a bigger audience then 10 year old boys. Now high school and College age men were reading them as the art and writing had vastly improved. So the sales department were now allowed to take ads from a wider range of clients. This made the ads almost as interesting to read as the stories themselves. Usually the ads ranged from cupcakes to toys to sea monkeys. Sometimes ads like the one above appeared for, of all things, fake mustaches and sideburns. They usually had full page and half page ads. I couldn't find any of them. I did find this small corner ad in a copy of Captain America #106 and on this site. I once heard a rumor that Stan Lee had a hard time growing facial hair. So he gave this company free advertising space in exchange for letting him have his fake hairpieces for free. He supposedly wore them till the real hair grew in. I don't know if it is true but it is a good story.
While everyone else probably knows this by now I feel I should retract what I said earlier. I posted that Darren McGavin and Don Knotts died on the same day. I just found out that Mr. Knotts died on Friday and Mr. McGavin died on Saturday. I heard about both of them at the same time and so I thought they died the same day. Sorry about that. Above is Mr. McGavin from his other 1960's show The Outsider.
As a fan of TV and having grown up as part of the TV generation I have an affection for TV Guide. Almost as strong as my feelings for comic books. I used to sell TV Guide door to door and put them in local Mom and Pop shops to earn spending money when I was a kid. I always loved seeing the Fall Preview issues. When I went to college I majored in Radio, Television and Film production. My dream then as now was to be a TV or movie producer. I would always read the Fall preview issues and try to estimate which shows would last that year just by what I read and where I saw it on the schedule. So my love for the magaxine is deep and hase significant connections to my life. It's recent changes in its size and format I find interesting.
Seeing the coverage that Don Knotts and Dennis Weaver were getting I sort of like felt sorry for Darren McGavin. Just as long a career in the business and he was getting overshadowed. I was reminded of the show Riverboat. He starred in it with Burt Reynolds. It ran for 2 years in the early 1960's. I read that he and Mr. Reynolds didn't get along and that was why Burt was only on the show for 1 year. Two actors on the same show that didn't get along. Well that's rare isn't it? This is the only TV Guide cover from the series run.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the TV show Gentle Ben here is a 1968 cover of the issue of TV Guide that most of the cast appears on. I got if from this auction. It starred Dennis Weaver as wildlife officer Tom Wedloe. Clint Howard was his son Mark and Beth Brickell his wife Ellen. Rance Howard, Clint's real life Dad, played Henry Boomhauer. He was a friend of Tom's. They lived in the Florida everglades. Ben was the friendly and lovable 600 pound black bear that Mark Wedloe befriended. It was the Florida version of Lassie. Mark always getting into trouble. Then his Dad and Ben would get him out. It was a bit unbelieveable. No matter how gentle a bear Ben was I would not let my son pal around with him. Still it was fun family adventure and ran from 1967 to 1969. Then next year Mr. Weaver was cast in the show where he found his signature character Marshal Sam McCloud. You can read more about it at Booksteve's Library. I didn't know he enjoyed the show so much.
They say it happens in 3's and I guess that is true as I just heard another of my favorite actors died. Dennis Weaver. Most will remember him for Gunsmoke, McCloud, Steve Speilberg's first made for TV movie Duel. The above photo is from the DVD of Duel. Most people will forget another TV show that kids loved. Gentle Ben. It starred him Clint Howard and a bear named Ben. The show was a hit in the 60's. Mr. Weaver is in an elite class of tv actors. He starred or co-starred in 3 hit shows. In the past year I even saw him in the show Wildfire. So since he was still active the news of his death came as a shock to me. Rest in Peace Dennis Weaver.
This is a belated happy anniversary to Spider-Man, Stan Lee and to King Features Syndicate. Jan. 3rd was the 29th anniversary of the Spider-Man newspaper strip. I recently was reminded that it started in newspapers on that date in 1977. No adventure strip had been in the papers for quite some time. So it was a gamble if Spidey would be a success in this format. He was and Stan Lee has been the writer of it from day one. He didn't have to face a burgler his first time out on this adventure. Spider-Man hit the ground running facing Dr. Doom. The Newspaper strip also broke new ground in being the first cross over strip with a comic book in the storyline where Peter and Mary Jane were married. Due to copyright laws I was not able to use the newspaper strip but if you want to see recent ones you can click on the king features name above. Happy Anniversay to all and hopefully I won't miss the big 30th next year.
It's amazing the stuff you store away in your basement and forget about. I went through a box in my basement yesterday and found more books and magazines I thought I sold or threw away. Thankfully I didn't do either. This one was a surprise. The Superhero Catalogue from Superhero Enterprises of Dover, NJ. The editor was Joe Kubert and art was by him and his students. It was a mail order catalogue. The only way they could have gotten your address was if you ordered from them from a comic book ad or perhaps they got it off a mailing list. The catalogue contained everything that you could hope to buy that was related to superheros back in 1977. I was 16 that summer and just got my driver's license. Most of my money was going for gas to get to my part-time job. So I didn't buy anything from this catalogue. Strange isn't it. It has been 29 years and the only difference is that now most of my money goes to gas to get me to my full time job.
Over at Booksteve's Library he has an good post of Don Knotts the movie star. In it he talks about my favorite Knotts film and his "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken." I don't have a picture of that film to use here but the one I do have is almost as funny. "How To Frame A Figg" is about Don Knotts character finds that something crooked is going on at City Hall. He tells the Mayor but he is in on it. The try to bribe him with a big office and a company car. He can't be bought off and goes after the crooked officals himself. It has a great supporting cast with Joe Flynn, Yvonne (Batgirl) Craig and Frank Welker. It is directed by Alan Rafkin who went on to sit-com directing fame.
I was just over at News From ME and saw that both Don Knotts and Darren McGavin passed away yesterday. I have been fans of both for years. I was not shocked to hear about Mr. McGavin as he has been known to be in bad health for sometime now. Of course as readers of this blog know I became a fan of his with his preformance in "The Night Stalker." Later he won more fans when he played in the now annual holiday favorite "A Christmas Story." Later he appeared in and episode of "The X-Files" as a tip of the porkpie hat to "The Night Stalker" as it was the inspiration for the X-Files. Here is his authorized site.
